Judge: Feds have 3 days to respond to Dimora release request

AKRON -- U. S. District Judge Sara Lioi has ordered that federal prosecutors respond to convicted Cuyahoga County corruption defendant Jimmy Dimora's latest request for release from prison because of new medical issues.

Lioi wants prosecutors to respond within three business days before she will consider ruling on Dimora's request.

Mid-afternoon Friday, Dimora's attorneys renewed their request for his release from federal prison based on new medical grounds, following a May 4 fall that hospitalized Dimora for three days with a concussion and other injuries.

Dimora already has appealed Lioi's April 23 denial of his release to the U.S. Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. The appeals court has yet to rule on the appeal.

Dimora is asking to be released until his July 25 sentencing.

Dimora, 56, lost consciousness when he fell. At St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Youngstown, Dimora underwent several tests that revealed additional health concerns that require further medical care, his attorneys wrote in a motion to Lioi Friday afternoon.

The testing revealed that Dimora has an aneurysm and a dark mass behind his tonsils, according to an affidavit by his own physician, Dr. Marwan Hilal.

Hilal says care for the mass is required immediately in the event that the mass is cancerous.

On May 14, Dimora appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati. Dimora has been in federal prison at the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown since he was convicted on 33 of 34 counts on March 9.

On March 20, he asked U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi to be released prior to his July 25 sentencing and his still-scheduled second trial set to begin Oct. 17. (On Friday, prosecutors have asked Lioi to dismiss the charges that would be tried in that Oct. 17 trial.

Also, as a consequence of the fall, Dimora's previous conditions have been aggravated. He has been prescribed a walker and may be moved to a wheelchair if his condition does not improve.

The additional medical treatment that is necessary will be costly, his attorneys said. If Dimora remains at the NOCC, there will be a cost borne by the Bureau of Prisons in terms of both the medical care and the resources necessary for any additional hospital stays, his attorneys said.

The BOP must provide a guard 24-hour/day while Dimora is housed at St. Elizabeth's.

If he is released on bond, with any additional monitoring or securitization requirements that the Court chooses to impose, the medical care cost will be borne by Dimora's medical insurance and there is no need for the BOP to pay for transportation or security at the hospital.